President G. Mirijanian called the February Board Meeting to order at 4:00 PM at the Papa Gino’s in Natick.Eight people were in attendance: President George Mirijanian, Vice-President Steven Frymer (arrived 4:43 PM), Treasurer Robert Messenger, Clerk Nicholas Sterling, and Directors Brian Mottershead, Stephen Dann, Larry Eldridge, and Walter Driscoll (arrived 4:23 PM) .

Minutes of the January Board Meeting were distributed by Clerk N. Sterling.

* * MOTION made by R. Messenger and seconded by L. Eldridge to accept the Minutes as distributed.The VOTE was taken; with 3 votes in favor versus 3 abstentions, the MOTION passed. * *

(b) The January 2012 report: (i) (1) Net income of the General Fund this period as of 1/31/12: $1293.19. (2) Net income of the General Fund year-to-date as of 1/31/12: $2045.31. (ii) (1) Special Fund income this period as of 1/31/12: $430.72, with $51.40 dividends. (2) Year-to-date Special Fund income: $3496.77, with $416.63 dividends.

Scholastic: (i) B. Mottershead reported that the Winter Team Challenge had 88 players, and the Spiegel Cup 50 players, including the new Open High School section. (ii) The Gosselin Grade Championship will be held on 3/11/12 in Woburn. (iii) The Hurvitz Cup will be held on 4/1/12 in Boxboro. (iv) There was discussion of whether B. Mottershead could send a list of advance entries to Tiffany Wang two or three days before the weekend of the event, so that Tiffany could post the list on the website.The difficulty is that Brian does not always receive the full list of advance entries through PayPal.

R. Messenger said he could help with this.

Tournament: R. Messenger reported: (i) the MA Championship G/60 will be held on 4/15/12 in Marlboro, and the TLA has been submitted; (ii) the MA Open will be held on Memorial Day weekend for three days in Marlboro, and Walt Champion will provide financial support to guarantee a minimum level of prizes; (iii) the bid to NECA for the New England Open is still pending; either Marlboro or Leominster is a likely venue.

Publications: (a) Acting Editor R. Messenger will soon be ready to prepare the layout of the next Chess Horizons once he gets his laptop computer (crashed on 1/11/12, returned on 2/11/12) up and running again. (b) The plan is to publish a five-month double issue, November 2011-March 2012. The Members will receive 96 pages of print matter in total per year, even if they do not receive it in four distinct issues.

LMCF: S. Frymer reported that a request for sets is pending from L. Eldridge, and that he has received a request from Methuen School Department.LMCF recently purchased 200 boards, sets, and bags for $990, a purchase approved by G. Mirijanian as President (reported earlier).

Election: (a) The proposed slate to date is as follows:

President: Robert King

Vice-President: Steven Frymer

Treasurer: Robert Messenger

Clerk: Nicholas Sterling

Directors: Stephen Dann, Richard Kinne, Walter Driscoll,

George Mirijanian, Kenneth Belt, Brian Mottershead,

Larry Eldridge; there is one standing vacancy

Robert King has to extend his paid Membership to reach it past 5/31/13.

L. Eldridge and B. Mottershead extended theirs at the Meeting itself.

(b) There are no Bylaws Amendment proposals to put on the Ballot (the Clerk checked the prior Meeting Minutes to ensure this).

Old Business: none

New Business: (a) * * ADVANCE MOTION (212-1) made by S. Frymer and seconded by R. Messenger: “Movedthat fiscal year 2011 life membership and prison chess transfers to general fund be returned to their respective special funds.”The amount in question was about $3300.Discussion included reminders that MACA could fairly support charitably two funds, together with concerns about what kinds of profits, including Scholastic, would be used to refinance the two funds.The VOTE was taken; with 6 votes in favor versus 2 votes against, the MOTION passed. * *

(b) (i) (1) * * MOTION (212-2) made by R. Messenger and seconded by L. Eldridge: “Moved that James Lung and Jacob Fauman be declared High-School State Co-Championships for 2012.” (2) * * B. Mottershead called the Motion out of order, but G. Mirijanian ruled the Motion valid, and B. Mottershead APPEALED the President’s ruling. (3) The VOTE was taken on the APPEAL; with 5 votes in favor of sustaining the President’s ruling, 2 against, and 1 abstaining, the President’s ruling was sustained and the APPEAL was defeated. * * (ii) The basis of the Motion is to deal with a contradiction in two sections of the rules pertaining to the awarding of State Championships to players tied for first place and contending for Denker and Barber Tournament participation, such that Mr. Fauman not be denied a title he should have earned. The concern raised was that the effect of this Motion would be to overrule summarily the onsite ruling of a Tournament Director. (iii) The VOTE was taken; with 5 votes in favor versus 3 against, the MOTION passed. * *

President G. Mirijanian adjourned the February Board Meeting at 6:03 PM.The date, time, and place of the March Meeting are Saturday 3/17/12, at 4:00 PM, at the Papa Gino’s in Natick.